


2AM

by sarah_x



Category: Generation X (Comic), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 18:41:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12800046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarah_x/pseuds/sarah_x
Summary: Jono can't sleep and Jubilee is emotional.AU-ish epilogue to Generation X #9.





	2AM

It always surprised him how pervasive his loneliness could get, even in a house as large and crowded as Xavier’s. Even with Lee sleeping next to him.

He shifted around in the bed. Sleeping on his stomach didn’t work. Sleeping on his back didn’t work. He tried facing Lee, watched her in the dark as a pool of drool formed on her pillow. His mum used to say that was the true test of a relationship, whether you loved someone enough to put up with their drooling and snoring. Jubilee did both. She also had the irritating, if endearing, habit of star-fishing out across the bed or clinging to his back like a koala. After a hectic day defending the school from yet another Purifiers’ attack, she didn’t have the energy for either. She’d faceplanted her pillow four hours ago and not moved since.

A slither of moonlight spilled through a parting in the curtains, illuminating her face. Her mouth hung open slightly, fangs peaking out and threatening to puncture her bottom lip. Her hair was greasy with sweat and god knows what else, possibly blood too, and soil from when she’d been tossed across the front lawn. She was wearing one of his vests as a nightgown. It was miles too big for her and hadn’t been washed in over a week. She was a disgusting mess, but she was the disgusting mess he loved.

He reached out, pulled the comforter up around her bare shoulders. He pushed a few strands of hair out of her face against her sleep-mumble of protest. He noticed her nipples through the thin fabric of his vest. He turned over in bed, told himself to stop being creepy.

The bed creaked a little too loudly as he rolled onto his side and Jubilee stirred awake with a grunt. He paused mid-turn. Jubilee stared at him, eyes narrowed and half-asleep, then she covered her face with her hands and sighed an exasperated, “ _Jono_.”

 _“Sorry, Lee,”_ The selfish part of him was glad she was awake, glad he had some company to help ease the insomnia. _“Didn’t mean to wake you.”_

“What time is it?” She sounded like she was going to cry.

He checked the alarm clock on his side of the bed. He was almost afraid to tell her, _“2AM.”_

Jubilee let out a long, loud groan before flopping onto her back, staring at the ceiling.

_“Are you angry at me?”_

“Yes,” Her voice betrayed her even as she poked him hard in the side. She might have been irritated with him, but she wasn’t angry. “But I know how you get. What’s on your mind, Sparky?”

She rolled onto her side to face him, hands slipped under one of her cheeks, like those old Christian saints. He searched her warm brown eyes for the right answer, the right thing to say. It was stupid, of course, Lee wouldn’t judge him. They had an unspoken understanding of each other, a connection words could never reverse. But she’d been through so much stress lately, he felt guilty off-loading his insecurities onto her.

 _“Are you happy?”_ Her eyes grew a little wider, a little more alert, surprise breaking through the haze of tiredness. _“With me? Are you happy being with me?”_

“No, you are horrible to me and I hate you and everything you stand for,” She shook her head, laughing, “Yes, I’m happy, doofus. As happy as I can be at 2AM.”

 _“You know what I mean,”_ Jono replied. Lee always had a habit of downplaying things, covering her concerns or problems with humour. _“We can’t kiss. I can’t be there for you in the ways I really want to be, in the ways you probably need-”_

“This again,” She rolled her eyes, but a fond smile played on her round face. She pulled herself up into a sitting position on the bed. “You’ve always been there for me. When we got depowered, when I got _vampified_ , after Logan-”

She turned her head away from him, buried her chin against her shoulder. He could feel the energy under his bandages reacting to her pain, shimmering like a nightlight in the dark room. Even subconsciously, he was trying to get closer to her. He felt a wave of shame suddenly for having pulled her into his depressive late-night thoughts.

Her soft hands reached under the covers. She found his arm and turned it over. Her fingers traced the rough, raised skin on his forearm. Her bitemark, like a brand on his skin. Appearance didn’t bother him so much anymore, but the scar was particularly messy. She had been hungry, then preoccupied with Shogo.

“I’m honestly surprised _you_ want to stay with a monster like me,” Her voice wobbled as she stared down at the scar, rubbing her thumb over the top of it, “Look what I did to you.”

 _“It’s nothing,”_ It wasn’t but he didn’t care. He sat up in bed to meet her, hunching over a little to match her small stature. He realized they hadn’t talked about what had happened until now. _“And you’re not a monster, Lee. You got a building dropped on your head. What else were we supposed to do? Wait until we got back to the Mansion, so you could attack the first mutant you saw?”_

“That’s not the point,” Jubilee said, voice small. She’d moved out of the path of the moonlight but even with the dark obscuring her face, he could tell she was crying. The scarred arm she’d been cradling wrapped around her shoulders. “The way Shogo looked at me…”

 _“He was scared and confused,”_ Jono tried gently, _“He’s too young to understand this yet. Don’t cry, luv.”_

Too late. She was trying to cover her crying, but the tears were coming freely now. He enveloped her in a hug, her head tucking into the side of his neck. Red tears stained black bandages. She was so small against him, it was easy to forget she could rip his arm open.

“I love you so much,” She sobbed, kissing the side of his neck. “Idiot.”

_“Even if I make you cry?”_

“You didn’t make me cry,” Jubilee continued to kiss him over the bandages, his cheekbones, then his nose. He ran a hand through her short black hair, pressed his forehead against hers. “It’s 2AM. Everyone’s emotional at 2AM.”

_“2:30 now.”_

Jubilee sighed, grinning, “I hate everything. Except you.”

 _“Took the words right out of my,”_ Jono faltered, _“-mind.”_

Jubilee laughed, curled up on the bed, head falling into Jono’s lap. He mused her hair, then rubbed up and down her arm. She let out a sigh, “Nerd.”

 _“Maybe I am a nerd,”_ He replied, _“’Least I’m not a vamp.”_

“At least I’ve got a mouth.”

Jono placed a hand over his chest, where his heart would have been once upon a time, in mock offense, _“Ouch.”_

“Shouldn’t have woken me up at two in the morning,” She said, mischievous grin on her face. “I’m tired and grouchy and only Spongebob re-runs will make me tired and happy.”

If Jono could have sighed, he would have, _“Fine. I’ll get the cassettes.”_


End file.
